Lately Cia and I have had wonderful discussions about Dickens, not only as a novelist but as a person. She is currently, along with all of her other reading, enjoying a biography of Dickens, and she is helping me understand the man much better than I ever have. He has been one of my favorite novelists for many years, but I've not known a great deal about his life -- and now Cia is opening it up for me as we talk. The best thing she says, over and over, is that Dickens was basically a very good guy. He genuinely cared about people, especially those who were down and out, like his own father. He was generous and sensitive and unselfish -- a novelist who, you might say, practiced the compassionate way of life that he championed over and over in his novels. My thanks to Cia for helping me to better understand this great novelist and complicated man.

Another afternoon reading by the fire. Ah, how wonderful these cold winter days can be!